WHERE'S THE BEEF? ( I'm Ranting Again)

There's a few people out there who are slightly fed-up, or have fallen out of "love" with blogging. Or, some of us just don't have time. You're into writing your book, not writing--or trying to come up with something to blog about. Case in point here's  Norma Beishir's blog , and she has a few suggested posts on the subject. I happen to agree with her. Blogging is becoming a time eating monster.

I've had the feeling I'm working my fingers to the bone for a while, for no reason but to ramble. I reach very few of you (there are a couple who respond here and come over to visit on facebook too), who are actually "followers", and some who are "fans" of my books. The rest of them, I have no idea why they come to my blog. Some are "anonymous" making comments hoping that their blog will be visited too (usually these blogs are ads).

Once upon a time,when I had a publisher (for a very short two and 1/2 years), I was supposed to post something on his blog every week--which I got him down to once a month (I simply didn't have the time for that blog and mine, and other things!). He said that quite a number of people stopped by his blog (it was in the five-figures), and I did get hits on my various posts. But this didn't translate to many actual SALES. That frustrated me. The same holds true here at this blog. I've had days where I've reached over 100 people. Sometimes it's in the hundreds. Are they even looking at my books over on the sideboard? No. No hits there, and no sales. So, what gives? Why am/are we doing this?

The question remains: WHERE'S THE READERS??? Well, they sure as hell aren't here in Blogsphere.

Sort of like the "Where's the beef" commercials. Let's face it, readers don't come to our blogs. Back around 2005/06, you may have read in Writer's Digest - and publishers believed this too - they suggested that blogging was the way to reach readers.

WRONG!
I believe that it was about the end of last year-maybe earlier--when we writers began to question this. Really question it.

Of course other writers come to our blogs. We go to theirs. That's about it. I'm not saying I don't appreciate the support, and especially those of you who have bought my books, left comments, allowed me to come and be on your blogs, and made revues on Amazon or Goodreads, whatever. I do. But the long and short of it is it's not where the money will come from in the long run to keep me doing what I'm doing and having to pay for the Internet, or any other expenses. It's actually a drain on our monthly income. I'm questioning if it's worth keeping it. Yeah. I am. My husband still supports me, and tells me it's totally up to me. We'll see when winter is upon us again, with the electric company upping their service 35%, starting this month.

Just a few weeks ago I was having trouble with connecting. I was told that my modem might be bad. I thought I was going to have to actually call the phone company and my Internet providers and tell them I wanted to cancel the service. Eventually I figured out the problem and fixed it (the stupid guy who I had to talk to for an hour trying resolve this told me this, but didn't make any suggestions except that I may have to buy a new modem). Thankfully, I didn't. I figured out what I needed to do and got it fixed all by myself--and somehow that worked.

But, I don't know how much longer I'm going to pay for this Internet and not get something in return. Until I can get a laptop computer (and find a way to reduce my monthly payments), I've gotta use this dial up (I won't go into a long explanation here why, but it's virtually impossible for me to get wireless for this desktop computer.)

I still have a lot of stories inside me. That's not the problem. Or, maybe it is, as far as trying to keep up with blogging. I find myself asking myself,  "Is it all worth it?" This past winter I re-found my interest in crocheting, and thoughts of doing crafts again--that's where I made money on a monthly bases, usually, when I was in a booth/store. It's all changed of course, since the '90's. Everything has changed! And I'm not sure I can keep up with the technology any more.

Back to blogging. I'm not keen on the idea of doing blog hops, you're not really gaining anything by doing them. Really. Unless all you want is a lot of followers who stop by and leave comments on your blog, which means you have to go and do the same with them. Great, if that's the case, and you've got a lot of free time on your hands that's fine. I don't. I don't know about you, maybe it's because you've got fast Internet, but I don't. I just don't have time to sit and wait for one blog to come up--might take ten minutes for it to come in fully and then to make a comment. I follow a few of you on a regular basis, and if I've time, I leave a comment, but I do read them via my email.

As you all know (who follow my blog), I've been trying to get a third read-through on this next book, Vampire Caprice done, so that I can publish it. I've just finished with that and sent it to my formatter. It's a long, freaking book--it's over 130,000 words! I don't think any publisher would want a book this long. But eff it. It's my book, and I'm going to do it. I've got the next one (#5) in the series waiting for me to work on that one, and the 8th one is trying to come to the forefront, and I've still to finish Dampire Legacy. Plus I've got a new work in the back of my head, making my notes for it!!! It's like I'm giving birth to a litter here! Possibly, if I ever get to retire (at this rate it might be at age 89!!!), I'll have time to work on all my little projects--if I live that long.

Okay, that's it for my rant. If you haven't changed the dial, you're free to do so. Have a good rest of your Sunday!